Hoards of snarling, blood-splattered zombies will be heading to Saffron Walden this autumn for a whole new kind of 5k run. Lydia Fallon talks to race organiser, and self-confessed geek, Jon Ford about his mission to ignite some fun in the fitness world

The country is in a state of lockdown due to a quickly spreading, and potentially lethal, zombie virus. Everyone must be extracted from an evacuation point which is five kilometres away. Only the fittest will survive. The race is well and truly on.

Sounds like the plot of the latest zombie movie right? Well think again, this is actually the mantra behind Zombie Evacuation Race, a five kilometre post-apocalyptic run which promises the ‘most terrifying running journey of your life’ and Will Smith is nowhere to be seen (unfortunately!).

Forget village fun-runs and tedious half marathons, this is a run with a delightfully gory twist. Not only do participants have to manoeuvre their way around five kilometres of obstacles, they have to do so whilst being chased by the blood-thirsty undead. All racers have three florescent velcro tags secured to their running belt, and if a freakishly realistic zombie catches you and pulls one off, you lose a life. Pounding the pavements this is most definitely not.

The Zombie Evacuation Race heads to Saffron Walden in October and chatting to the infectiously passionate race director, Jon Ford; it seems this sleepy market town is in for a treat. “I’ve always been a geek at heart, I love monster movies, horror shows, the works – I watch it all,” Jon bubbles excitedly. “I just thought there needs to be an entry level race that’s fun to do but which will get people out of their seats.

“Some of my friends had wanted to do obstacle races in the past but been put off by the fact that it all looks quite serious. But with this it suddenly becomes a fun event, they’re running through a forest getting chased by zombies, and when they’ve finished they suddenly realise they’ve run five kilometres.

“I really wanted something which people who aren’t terribly fit can actually have a go at.”

Jon, who can trace his love for both sport and monsters back to his childhood, (“when I was a kid I’d spend my Saturday mornings watching Michael Jordan play basketball and then switching channels to watch Godzilla thump King Kong”) launched Zombie Evacuation last year after a serious leg injury left him on the sidelines for over a year.

Overweight, unfit and bored of his day job in IT, Jon longed for something to give him his spark back. Zombies turned out to be that thing. “I’m now in a position where I’m not what I used to be, and it annoys me intently,” Jon laughs. “I understand the mentality for a lot of people who would like to do something but they’re looking for something that little bit exciting to get them off the sofa.

“The zombie races were my inspiration to start doing something about my own fitness and my hope was they would be for others too.

“I’ve already had so many stories come back from people who say they’ve never done an event like this before, but thought it looked really exciting so signed up, and then they’d spent months getting ready for it, going on a diet and doing more exercise, and that’s kind of what we were looking for.”

Nearly 6,000 people signed up to the two zombie races last year and they’re expecting over 15,000 for the four events in 2013. It’s fair to say Jon’s not the only one who thinks a bunch of zombies makes keeping fit a whole lot more fun. “Last year there was a real sense of excitement around the race,” Jon says. “No one really knew what to expect and we even had grown men running around screaming their heads off, which is really gratifying to see.

“By the end we wanted everyone to feel like they’d walked out of a really good horror movie and I think we achieved that.”

The Saffron Walden race takes place at the Carver Barracks on October 5, and people can already sign up to run the race, or even volunteer as a blood-thirsty zombie. “We’re looking to hit as many people as we can,” Jon explains. “Whether you just want a break from the norm and the monotony of other races, or are a zombie geek who likes chilling out on a Sunday night watching The Walking Dead, and want to dress up as a zombie and scare the pants off people.”

And with TV shows like The Walking Dead ensuring zombies are very much on everyone’s radar right now, Jon hopes to keep riding the wave of popularity and making the events bigger and better year on year. He even has plans to notch up the fear factor with a night time race. “We want to try and make the event unique every year, and are looking at introducing a race which you run in semi darkness. The ambition is to stay on top of it and give people something they want to come back to year after year.”

But whatever path the race takes, Jon is just happy to be doing something which makes him feel like an excited kid again. “For so many years I’d been stuck in this IT job, doing something that didn’t really interest me and I had no passion for. I needed that one little spark to make me happier and I feel like I’ve found that now.”

You can sign up now to the Zombie Evacuation Race in Saffron Walden by visiting www.zombieevacuation.com. Places will fill up fast, so make sure you don’t miss out.